Alabama

Eyewitness reports of mile-wide tornado damage

Alabama residents give a first-hand, eyewitness account of what they're seeing in the region in and around the city of Tuscaloosa:

"The Forest Lake area near McFarland, Hackberry and 15th Street, everything in that little area is gone. It looks like somebody came through with a huge ax and cut the top off of everything. Just a big blade through that whole area. That area is just total devastation. It didn't hit the hospital. We didn't see any damage at the hospital. Trying to get to apartments near Snow Hinton, and it's just taking forever. I heard Midtown got hit. It seems to be pretty contained" -- DAVID IKARD, Tuscaloosa resident

"I'm in my car at corner on McFarland. Milo's Hamburgers isn't there anymore. Hobby Lobby only thing still standing at Woods Square Shopping Center (on the corner of McFarland Boulevard and 13th Street). Big Lots, Full Moon Barbecue. Piles of garbage where those places were. Shell gas station across the street, all that's standing is the frame of the store. It was quiet. There wasn't anything going on. My building down Jack Warner Parkway, on street past the bluff. On 8th Avenue Northeast. Standing on the porch. Out of nowhere, it started pouring down rain. Crazy winds. I was hit in the face by an object carried by the wind. Rain was going sideways. I'm a mile from this shopping center. Not surprising that I felt it. It was completely insane." -- PHIL OWEN, Tuscaloosa resident

“In Tuscaloosa, the corner of U.S. Highway 82 and 15th Street is completely unrecognizable. It looks like we got hit by a 5,000-pound bomb. Krispy Kreme, Taco Casa are gone. It clipped University Mall. I don't know how this is going to go without any loss of life in the area. The whole skyline is now unrecognizable.” -- JOHN OLDSHUE (on ABC 33/40)

"I have lived in and around Tuscaloosa for the better part of two decades. What I see now in and around the intersection of 15th and McFarland is unrecognizable. Trees down everywhere. Businesses twisted and mangled.

"My wife and I were watching the weather coverage until the monster was right up on us. Then it was the mad dash to the bathroom where the lights flickered, pulsed and finally gave up. Even on the ground floor of our two-story apartment building, we could hear the wildness above us. We sat in the dark watching a video stream until the cell phones

lost reception. After that, it was a nervous wait until the storm passed.

"We left the building some 20 minutes after the tornado passed to find our neighbors outside. Our complex lost a few trees but escaped major damage. The same cannot be said for the district less than a mile away.

"It is an unsettling feeling to look out on a skyline you no longer recognize. I am glad that myself, my wife and our two cats survived

harm. But I mourn the loss of life, feel sympathy for the injured and wish my city a speedy recovery." -- WILL NEVIN, Tuscaloosa resident

VIDEO: Tornado damage aftermath from a local resident in Tuscaloosa --